Naruto: The Return
by freshtoasted88
Summary: Naruto was banished at the age of five from Konoha. Now, at the age of 16, Konoha comes asking him for help in one of their most dire times. Rated M for future chapters. Naruto/Ino most likely.
1. Chapter 1

This is an AU Naruto story. It diverges away from the main storyline of the actual Naruto universe when Naruto is banished from the village at an early age. It takes place at about the same time that Naruto would return from his training with Jiraiya. I have yet to decide what the pairings will be and I probably wont know for a few more chapters. It will either be Naruto/Sakura and Naruto/Ino (not a threesome), just Naruto/Ino, or Naruto/Tenten.

There will be no bashing any characters out of the context of what is called for by the storyline. There are certain characters that I dislike (cough Hinata cough), but there wont be any unnecessary bashing taking place.

Now onto the warnings. This is my first ever written fanfic. I have actually had this story in my head for a few years, and actually had the first three chapters done for it for the majority of that time. I abandoned it cause I wasn't sure where I ultimately wanted the story to go. It wasn't until a week ago that I found new inspiration and an idea of what I wanted to do with it. I also don't have a beta, and I tried to spellcheck it as best as I could on my own (I literally reread this thing at least 20 times trying to make sure it was how I wanted it).

This first chapter is almost entirely dialogue. Real action scenes wont happen for another few chapters, so if you don't like this chapter, the next few very well might be very similar style of writing.

Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoy

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: The Return<br>**

"KABUTO! GET IN HERE NOW!"

The silver haired man known as Kabuto quickly puts down the clipboard he is looking at and leaves the patient that he was checking over and walks down the hall. As he hurriedly walks to his master, Kabuto couldn't help but wonder what had gotten into him, seeing as how he had been practically giddy for the previous week.

He makes a left and down a flight of stairs and enters the containment cells. He spots and his master looking over one of their new 'patients'. "You called master?"

"Yes. I need you to watch these four for the next few days. I don't care what else you think is more important, these four are your top priority. I want to know of any changes in any of them, and if the procedure worked." The snake Sannin, Orochimaru said.

"But my lord" Kabuto began, "Kimimaro is on his last legs, and our other exper-"

"I SAID I DON'T CARE!" Orochimaru screams, turning on his subordinate. "If that weakling dies, then so be it, the rest will still be there once these four have left us. Do as I say, NOW!" Kabuto was a medical genius, and just as devious as he was, which made him the perfect assistant. He, however, often times thought that he knew best and would question the decisions made by his master. He failed to grasp the grand picture, which Orochimaru was more than obliged to keep from him.

"Yes my master" Kabuto said with that perfectly calm and willing to please voice.

"Good, I will be back in a weeks time. Me and my new apprentice will be taking a trip." Orochimaru finished as he walked out the room. If his planned worked, those four would lead to the final downfall of Konoha.

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><p>At the same time that these experiments where taking place, a young man walks back towards those that had shunned him so long ago. He walks with purpose in his steps and a grin on his face. He is going to march right through that gate, find the Hokage who had summoned him and then tell him no to whatever favor he knew that the old man would ask. It was always a good day when you get to turn your back on the people who turned their back on you.<p>

As he reaches the main gates of the village of Konoha, not because the gate guards were blocking his path, but rather he was trying to take in the scenery. It had been years since he had seen the place.

It all looked exactly as he remembered it. The Hokage Monument in the backdrop, the Hokage Tower rising above all the other buildings. Hell, all the other buildings appeared to be exactly the same as well. 'No one can pick up a paintbrush and mix things up a little bit?' he wonders.

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><p>For Kotetsu and Izumo, watching the gate today was just as boring as it always was. A few jounin come and go but nothing exciting. However, following the Hokage's orders, the two were staying constantly vigilant. After what had happened, who knew what would happen next to the village.<p>

Izumo was leaning against one side of the gate, as Kotetsu was leaning against the other. They observed a figure approach walking with a purpose down the road. Once he reached the gate, both chunnin held up their arms and blocked the path of the mysterious stranger. The young man appeared to not even be paying attention to either guards and was rather, looking past them and observing the village.

Now that he was stopped in front of them, they could take stock of his appearance. The young man had long blonde hair that went down to his shoulders. It was being held back from his face by a black bandana, which tied in the back, with the strings swinging in the breeze. He wore a black jacket, with white strips down the sides, and had an orange swirl on the back. The jacket was unzipped revealing a white muscle shirt underneath. His chest and stomach were extremely toned and it was obvious he took his physical fitness seriously. He had black cargo pants on, with the same white stripe down the side, and a pair of black shinobi sandals. Both Kotetsu and Izumo could have sworn that they recognized the stranger but neither could place from where.

"State your name and your purpose here." Kotetsu demands while standing up. The stranger finally seemed to notice that the two chunnin were there. He stood there, the smirk on his face gone, and he seemed to become more on guard than his previous carefree attitude.

"I'm here to meet with your Hokage," and before the chunnin's could respond the blonde boy disappeared. This startled both the chunnin and it took a second for either to move. They hadn't even seen the man move, and just like that he was gone.

It was Kotetsu that broke out of his shock first. "I need to alert Lord Hokage that we have an intruder headed his way. Stay at the gate!" Kotetsu immediately ran off towards the Hokage tower while both chunnins had the same thought 'So fast'.

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><p>The Lord Hokage is sitting in his office doing paperwork. Despite the arduous task that would bore anyone out of his or her minds, the Hokage had a smile on his face. He kept thinking about what this day had to bring, and couldn't help but think it was going to be a good day.<p>

"I'm not interrupting anything am I?" came a voice the Hokage was expecting sometime soon.

Looking up the Hokage turns to see the blonde who just a few moments ago had caused a disruption at the main gates sitting on his window sill, "Just some meaningless paperwork that I will gladly be distracted from." Sarutobi couldn't help but grin. It had been years since he had since this young man, and somehow he seemed to not change. Sure, he looked older, but there was just an air about him that the Hokage doubted would ever disappear.

"How's it going old man? The years sure haven't been kind to you have they?" the blonde chuckles.

'He will never change' Sarutobi thought. "No, they sure haven't, but they definitely been to you." Before the blonde can respond the doors burst open and in runs a panting Kotetsu. Both men turn their attention to the man at the door.

"Lord Hokage, there's been an intru…." Seeing the blonde the chunin immediately grabs for one of his kunai and throws it at him. The blonde makes no move whatsoever at avoiding the incoming kunai. When the kunai is just inches from his body, his hand springs forward lightning quick and his index finger slips through the hole on the end and stops it.

The boy turns back to the Hokage while spinning the kunai around his finger "If this is how you treat your guests old man, I might just as well leave now." He allows the kunai to spin off his finger and imbed itself in the wood floor at the chunnins feet.

"Guest?" Izumo questions, retrieving his kunai from the floor in front of him, maintaining his guard.

"Yes Kotetsu, he is here on my request. You have no need to worry. You can return to you post and inform everyone that everything is fine." Sarutobi said dismissing the chunnin.

"As you command Lord Hokage" Izumo says as he bows and walks out of the office closing the door behind him.

"So I see you have improved," Sarutobi says not at all surprised.

The blonde smirks and sticks his hand behind his head "I picked up a few things here and there. So, why did you summon me, old man? Your lucky I like the ramen here, or I would have told you to shove it." The blonde moves around Sarutobi's desk and takes a seat in front of it. He puts his feet up on the desk as he reclines in the chair, to Sarutobi's slight annoyance.

"I called you to make you an offer on behalf of Konoha. One that I think you will be very interested in"

"I stopped caring about offers from this village a long time ago old man." The blonde says with a slight bit of anger and sadness in his voice.

Sarutobi sighed and pulled out his pipe. "Then don't think of it as a offer from the Village." He lights his pipe and takes a quick drag from it. "Think of it as an offer from a old man trying to make amends." He says as he is exhaling smoke.

"It wasn't your doing as to why I was banished but just get to the offer so that I can reject it and leave here in peace. Preferably before anyone else finds out that I am here and problems arise." The blonde says, clearly uncomfortable with the topic of discussion. "Let me tell you right now old man, I wasn't able to defend myself ten years ago, but I will be more than happy to do so now. I helped you once before, and almost was killed because of it, I will not let the same thing happen again."

The conversation clearly not going the way that the old Hokage wanted it to, he decided it would be best to just get straight to the point. "You see, our shinobi forces are going through a bit of a rough patch."

"If your contacting me, I am going to have to guess that it is more than a 'rough patch'. So whats going on that you had to contact the number one person in the Konoha Bingo Book?"

"Well, as you probably already know, four years ago, Uchiha Sasuke was given the cursed mark by Orochimaru." Seeing the blonde signal that he knew and needed no further explanation the Hokage continued, "Well, our villages worst fears have come to pass. Sasuke has decided to leave this village and go to join Orochimaru in what we can only assume was in a attempt to master the seal, and get stronger."

"So your calling me back here because the villages golden boy decided to leave here under his own power? Why should I care that the Uchiha went rogue?" The blonde states, clearly getting more annoyed as the conversation continues.

"Its not that Sasuke left. We could live with one missing nin, even if he is the last Uchiha. It is the fact that we sent out a team immediately after he left with the intent on bringing him back. This group consisted of 3 jounins, and 5 chunnin" The blonde scoffs at hearing the size of the force sent after the 'precious' Uchiha. He holds in his resentment however seeing that Sarutobi was clearly saddened as he retells this tale. As much as he hated this village, he had a deep respect for the old man sitting across from him. He pauses before finishing "We are unsure of what happened on their mission."

"What do you mean you do not know what happened. With that many shinobi going after only one, they shouldn't have had any trouble stopping him. Especially since the last time I saw the Uchiha, he wasn't very strong at all." The blonde couldn't help but sneak in a jab at Sasuke.

"Indeed. When they came to me and requested this mission, I thought the size of the force was overkill but I thought, since they were all friends, that the bigger force would have shown Sasuke how much he meant to this village" He takes another drag from his pipe "Now I wish I had sent more."

"What happened?"

"Simply enough, we don't know. Nearly a whole day after the group left on their retrieval mission, we had no word from them. I sent out a quick recon team to see if they could find any trace of them. Well, they found them." Another drag from his pipe. "At least some of them. Kakashi had managed to get himself and three others to safety but at a huge expense to himself. He managed to do this with severe chakra drain and critical wounds. As soon as our recon team discovered him, he passed out and slipped into a coma. The other three have yet to wake up as well."

"So what happened to the rest of the team?" the blonde asks, straightening up a little/

"No clue. That is the disturbing part. We found the battlegrounds, and believe me these were huge battles. There was very little left of the forest in these areas with all the destruction, but we found no bodies. None of our own, none of theirs." Sarutobi paused to let the news sink in. Knowing that the blonde would be able to piece it together.

The blonde, now sits straight up in his chair and utters a name "Orochimaru."

"Precisely. I would rather our men have been killed than be in the hands of Orochimaru. Who knows what he is doing to them." A noticeable shiver shot up the spine of the Hokage.

The blonde not wanting to be rude but wanting to keep the conversation going, "I still don't see why you called me here. I understand that you have lost a good chunk of your shinobi force, but your Konoha for crying out loud. Losing 8 shinobi is not going to diminish your strength."

"I think you underestimate the strength and abilities of those that we have lost."

"Enlighten me"

"The four out of commission are Kakashi, arguably the strongest shinobi in our village. Hinata Hyuuga, the heir in line for the head of the Hyuuga House. Arguably the best tracker that the village has in Kiba Inuzuka, and a up and coming kunoichi, Sakura Haruno." The list was a strong group, but nothing special to the blonde boy. The only major loss in his opinion was Hatake. He signals for the Hokage to continue with a wave of his hand, "Of the four that are currently in the hands of Orochimaru are the ones I am extremely worried about. Orochimaru gained access to four different family jutsus with whom he has. He has taken Nara Shikamaru, who was just recently promoted to jounin before this mission. He also has Chouji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka, both of whom are heirs of their respective families. To make matters even worse, he also has managed to get the strongest Hyuuga that this village has to offer, in Neji."

Sarutobi pauses and contemplates whether or not he should reveal the next bit of information to the missing nin. It was after all, only known to him and a few select others and if it got out, it could risk the whole village to attack. In the end, he decides that full disclosure would be best since he was asking him for help "I am also going to tell you why this issue is so troubling to me now. As you so elegantly keep pointing out, I am old. My good years are long since past. In fact, I have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning now."

As he was confessing this all to him, the blonde had never heard the Hokage seem so worn down. He was unsure of what Sarutobi's actual age is, but he seemed to age thirty years in the span of the conversation. "You're over exaggerating. You're still the best ninja in this village. Why else would you still be Hokage?"

"Well, therein lies the issue" Sarutobi continued. "I'm not. Or rather, I was not going to be anymore. This was supposed to be my last week serving as Hokage. Kakashi Hatake was supposed to take my post in five days. To make matters even worse on top of all of that, this couldn't come at a worse time. Our best spy, Shino Aburame, returned a couple of days ago with news from Kumo. The Raikage is preparing to attack Konoha in a month's time. Even with the aid of Suna, at our current strengths… we wont stand a chance."

"So, what your saying is, that right now either the heir or the strongest person from each clan in Konoha is either in a hospital bed or captured and the soon to be Hokage is right there with them? And to top off matters, we are on the eve of the Fourth Great Ninja War?"

"Now you see the dire situation that we are in right now. It's a miracle I found you in time."

"Of course, but I still don't see why you called me here. I am not fighting a war for you."

"Simply put. We need help. Badly. We have valuable people who are in hospital beds and we have no medic-nins who are strong enough to heal any of them. We also have four shinobi captured under the control of Orochimaru. What I am asking of you should be pretty obvious. I want you to ask your mother to come help us in the hospital, and I want you to lead a mission in order to get our men back. I would never ask you to defend this village after what it did to you. I am asking you to do me this favor so that we will have a chance to defend this nation ourselves." Sarutobi finishes.

"You know I don't control her right? You know she hates this village as much as I do and is less likely to help you than I am. Don't take our helping this village last time as a sign that we will always be available to you." The blonde scoffs at him.

"Which is precisely why I am coming to you with this proposal. You have always been the reasonable one out of the three and I know you will be able to convince her to help." Sarutobi gives a slight all knowing smirk that he is known for, "So all I have to really do is convince you, don't I?"

"And you still have yet to do that old man." The blonde says while shaking his head.

"Ahh, while I have no doubt that you will eventually decide to do me this favor out of the goodness in your heart, I would rather speed up the process." As he says this, he pulls out a scroll from inside his desk drawer, and hands it to the blonde. He waits for the blonde to unroll the scroll and begin reading. As the blonde reaches the bottom of the scroll, he sees the blondes eyebrows raise. "So do we have a deal?"

The blonde pauses and thinks over all of his options. On the one hand, he was happy with his life but on the other, there has always been a deep desire within his heart. "I suppose I have work to do." He gets up and heads back to the window he came in from. "I will be back in about a week. I'm not promising anything other than that."

The blonde steps up to the windowsill. Before he exits, the Hokage calls back to him. "Oh and Naruto?" The blonde looks back at him "Thank you and please hurry." With that, the blonde leaped out of the window and vanished.

'That troublemaker may be the only hope this village has' the aging Hokage thought to himself. 'If only he can forgive me'


	2. Chapter 2

Ok, Chapter 2 is here.

First off, thank you everyone for reading the first chapter. I was actually shocked at seeing how many people decided to follow this story. Now, I would like to respond to a few reviews. I know I don't have to, but I appreciate everyone reading this, and I appreciate people leaving a review even more, so the least I can do is answer any questions that people leave in the reviews so here we go:

From Ragnarok Warrior-

_Though why would Sakura be on the retrieval team? At that point wouldn't she still be somewhat of a fangirl and be neglecting her training? Doesn't really matter to me, I can work around it.  
><em>

Well, I was going with that the events changed because Naruto left. Sasuke didn't leave right after the chunnin exams like in canon. This is all taking place at about the time/age of Naruto returning from his training trip with Jiraiya. Also, I really haven't decided how much of a fangirl Sakura is going to be still. She is older now and a little wiser but she didn't have Sasuke break her heart yet. We will see how it turns out as I write her.

SuzyQ

_I was going to continue to read this, but then I checked your profile page and saw you're a Hinata hater, so now I won't!_

Its not that I hate Hinata. I hate the whole fangirl type love in the whole Naruto series and that's what Hinata basically is. As a character, if you get her away from Naruto, she is good. I just wish that they would get her away from her deep devotion to Naruto. I really hope I don't lose you as a reader cause of that.

Thanks to everyone else who left me a review too!

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><p>Chapter 2: Welcome Home<p>

The village of Konoha always seemed peaceful in the morning. During the day, when the sun is lighting the sky, the village is always bustling with civilians and ninja alike. Its not until you are awake in the morning, when everyone else is asleep that you realize how loud the village really is. Just before the sun rises, its almost as if nothing could possibly be wrong in this place. These were Sarutobi's musings this early morning.

It had been days, if not weeks since Sarutobi last slept. He honestly couldn't recall. The days kept blurring together. He would go through the daily motions of being Hokage; sign paperwork, meet with diplomats, assign missions. He was on autopilot. His mind almost always drifting towards what was yet to come.

He had yet to notify anybody about the upcoming attack. Everyone was already on edge after the failed Sasuke mission. If it was common knowledge that not only where some of their best shinobi out of commission, but an assault from Kumo was on its way. He couldn't blame the people to panic. For the first time after what seemed like a lifetime as Hokage, he was at a loss.

He even attempted to put a plan in place to give his village one last desperate chance at surviving this assault. He put his faith in Konoha's number 1 missing nin: Naruto Uzumaki. He came to Naruto almost begging for assistance. Naruto told him that he would return in a week with a final answer. He thought that he had convinced the boy too help, or maybe he just thought that the blonde still had a love for this village. Either way, Sarutobi was sure that when Naruto returned a week later, this village would have had a chance. Naruto's deadline came and went two days prior.

It wasn't that he blamed the boy. In fact, after all that this village put Naruto through, Sarutobi couldn't honestly have said to himself that he wouldn't have done the same. Sarutobi just had to resign himself that he was going to have to create the best defense he could with the soldiers that he had.

Sarutobi couldn't help but let out a sad grin. 'I suppose it is only fitting that I am the Hokage for the start of this war. I was appointed during the first Great War, and commanded the next two. I suppose I should have expected to be in charge during the fourth.' He thought to himself.

As if to interrupt him from his sad musings, the sun peaked up over the horizon and shined brightly through the window in the hospital room he was currently sitting in. With the sun shining in the room, he couldn't help but look down at his successor. Kakashi was still in a coma, and it didn't appear like he would be getting out of it anytime soon. He had found himself in Kaksahi's room for the majority of his free time in the past couple of weeks. It didn't look like his successor would be in any shape to take command anytime soon.

"No, this is my burden, and I will bear it until the end." Sarutobi says to the unconscious Copy Ninja. "Enough with my depressing thoughts. Today is the day that the preparations will begin. Todays the day that Konoha learns that it is going to war once again." With that Sarutobi slowly stood up and slowly walked out the door of the hospital room.

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><p>"ARGHHHHHHHHHHH! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU OROCHIMARU!"<p>

Orochimaru couldn't help but give an evil smirk at hearing the rage billowing from the dungeons below. 'Anger is good. Anger will suit me.' He thought to himself as he sat on his throne. Orochimaru returned a few days prior after visiting a few of his contacts near Kumo. It appeared that he wasn't the only one with intentions to destroy Konoha. In fact, it seemed like the majority of the ninja world was on board.

His prisoners had progressed better than he could have ever hoped for them to in that time. It was only a matter of time until he could put his plan into place.

"Master?"

"Yes Sasuke?" Orochimaru turned to his new apprentice. Sasuke was coming along nicely as well. With Orochimaru's instruction and care, he was quickly learning how to master his cursed seal. He was also learning to lose his humanity a little bit more each day. Orochimaru wasn't stupid; he knew that Sasuke came to him with the intention of just gaining the power to defeat Itachi and then to leave him once that was over with. What Sasuke didn't know was that the more time he spent using the cursed seal, the more obedient he became to his master. Orochimaru gladly kept that secret hidden from him. Soon, those precious eyes of Sasuke will be his.

"Why are we keeping those four? You have me as your apprentice, and we got word that Konoha is going to be destroyed in the next month. Why waste your time with those weaklings?" Sasuke asked his master with a straight face.

'Ahhh, Sasuke still cares for his former comrades. I will soon break him of this care.' Orochimaru thought to himself. "Because Sasuke, Konoha is a pesky place. They always seem to overcome against the direst of situations. That is how they defeated my army five years ago. I will not make the same mistake. If every other enemy of Konoha will be attacking from the outside, I will destroy it from the inside." After Orochimaru finished his explanation another scream rang out from below, this one female. "Now Sasuke, to continue your training. What do you know about the Mangekyo Sharingan?"

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><p>Sarutobi was now in his office drafting a letter to the Kazekage. Gaara had been a great ally ever since the previous failed attack by Suna. It was even Sarutobi who the Suna elders consulted when looking for their new Kazekage.<p>

Sarutobi never completely backed Gaara to the elders, having nearly had his village destroyed by the young man, but Sarutobi was always good at reading people. When he met up with Gaara during his visit to Suna, he could tell this was a changed young man. Still extremely conflicted and still having a long way to go before he was a well adjusted human being, but he no longer let the demon control him. It was because of this that Sarutobi did not reject him when the Suna elders suggested him.

Sarutobi was now just hoping that Gaara would be able to come through for him again. This was going to be extremely short notice and it would be cutting it close as to whether Gaara could even get his army here on time or not. Now, he wished that he wouldn't have put this off for so long.

As he finished the letter and sealed it, the ANBU member that he was expecting arrived in front of his desk. "Ahh Tenzo. I'm glad you came here. I need you to do me a favor and assemble all of the jounin and the council for me. I have an announcement to make, and we have preparations to begin."

"Yes Lord Hokage"

"Also, Tenzo. Has there been any new people coming through the gate today." The Hokage asked. If Sarutobi was ever one thing in his life, it was always an optimist.

Just as Tenzo was about to answer the Hokage with a negative, another voice came from the back of the room. "You're assuming that we would come through the front gate and that we would want people to know that we are here, Sensei." As he spoke, the man known by many names across the shinobi world, such as the Toad Sage, or super pervert by the majority of women, walked out of the shadows and revealed himself.

Tenzo turned preparing to strike until he saw who it was. Everyone in Konoha knew of the legendary Sannin, Jiraiya. Sarutobi quickly stood up, and Tenzo thought he hadn't seen the Hokage this happy in a long time. The two quickly came together and gave a quick hug. "Its good to see you Jiraiya. Please tell me your not just back here to visit the hot springs."

"I'm only here because somehow you managed to convince the kid to help this sorry village. "Jiraiya clearly happy that he was back in the presence of his old mentor. "Also, it's been awhile since I have done some research here. What with the kid and the old lady, my books have almost stopped being written. My publishers are getting very upset."

"I was wondering why there hadn't been a new Icha Icha book in almost a year. "

"Yea, well those two do a pretty good job of preventing me from doing any necessary research." Jiraiya claps his hands and continues "But as I was saying. All three of us are here. You might want to delay that order to your ANBU over there until we all have had a chance to talk."

Sarutobi's face quickly became downtrodden again at having been reminded of the dire situation he was in. "I cant. We have to start making preparations, and I got to get this letter out to Suna"

"I am just suggesting that you wait until you have had a chance to hear all of the necessary information. Make the announcement tomorrow and begin the preparations then. You also don't have to worry about that letter. Naruto already took care of it for you. Suna is making their own preparations already." Jiraiya said, clearly enjoying being the one giving the advice to his former sensei. 'Oh how the tables have turned.'

Sarutobi was clearly in deep thought trying to weigh his options. If what Jiraiya said about Suna already being aware was true, then that took a lot off of his plate. He couldn't help but wonder, however, what else there was that he didn't know about.

Just as Sarutobi was about to answer, there was a huge explosion of chakra in the middle of the village. All three immediately recognized whose chakra it was and when they looked out the window, they saw a huge spire of dark red chakra billowing up from one of the streets.

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><p>Naruto was walking down the main street of Konoha with his head held high, and a smirk on his face. Occasionally he would get a second glance from one of the young females in the crowds, or a glare from one of the older villagers. He had to assume that it was because he was new around there, not because they actually remember him. Most of the older generation would try to stab him in his back if they realized he was back. They tried it once before.<p>

He couldn't help but feel the irony though. Ten years ago he was afraid to even show his face in public. Now, he was daring anyone to say something to him. He would actually give them a reason to banish him this time.

If Naruto remembered correctly, there was a ramen stand on the next block. It had been ten years, and Naruto has had ramen from every nation in the shinobi world since then, but he never forgot the ramen he ate as a child. Sitting at that ramen stand was one of the few good memories he still had of this village. Naruto had to wonder; Sarutobi and ramen. Was that enough for him to want to save this village?

As he rounded the last corner and onto the street he knew where the ramen stand was, he bumped into an old lady holding her groceries. The force of the impact caused her to begin falling backwards her groceries flying into the air; all of the groceries flying out of the brown paper bag that she was holding them in. Naruto acting purely on instinct moved around the old lady with lightning quick speed, prevented her from falling by standing her up and leaped up into the air grabbing all the groceries and putting them back into the bag. He landed softly on his feet just as the last apple landed in the bag.

He then turns around and walks back to the old lady, clearly surprised at what just happened. "Sorry about that. Guess I was just zoning out when I bumped into you." Naruto says as he puts his hand behind his head and grins.

"Oh that's no problem sonny. It was probably my fault. I couldn't see over the bag I was carrying" the elder begins with a kindly smile on her face too. Naruto hands the old lady her bag back. Just when Naruto was beginning to think that maybe most of the people in this village weren't so bad the unthinkable happened. As the old lady was beginning to thank him for saving her groceries, something occurred to her.

Her face now held a mixture of anger and fear. It was as if Naruto had suddenly turned into the most evil person she had ever known. Later, when Naruto thought about this situation he realized, he probably was the most evil person in her mind. Her fear, however, didn't stop her from screaming out at the top of her lungs "DEMON!"

For a little old lady, Naruto didn't know how she could possibly have a set of lungs on her that loud. He actually had to cover his ears it was so loud. Naturally, hearing an old lady scream attracted everybody's attention. There was not a single soul in that street that wasn't staring at Naruto.

At first everyone just looked confused but eventually it dawned on a lot of the older peoples faces what was going on. Soon Naruto was completely surrounded by an angry crowd, yelling and screaming at him.

Naruto's emotions started as just wanting to avoid this situation and going back to hiding in the crowd, but quickly when everyone else began surrounding him and yelling at him, he became enraged. He has had it. After years of being tortured. Then having the whole village turn their back on him. Now, when he comes back to help them, AGAIN, and they still treat him like shit. He was not going to put up with it anymore.

It wasn't until someone through a bottle at him and smashed it over his head that his anger finally boiled over. "YOU WANT A DEMON? I WILL GIVE YOU A FUCKING DEMON!" Naruto bellows at the top of his lungs. As he finished his scream, red chakra began to flow out of him in waves. His appearance took upon a more feral look, with his eyes becoming more foxlike and his nails growing into claws.

Everyone in the crowd had to back up and shield their eyes from the force he was exerting. The ground was cracking around him, and his chakra went upwards of about thirty feet. From all over the village, everyone could see the chakra spike. "I THOUGHT YOU ALL WERE GOING TO DO SOMETHING? YOU HAD NO PROBLEM ASSAULTING A CHILD, WHY DON'T YOU TRY IT ON ME NOW?" His voice sounding nothing like his own.

With the chakra spike, it naturally attracted nearly every ninja in the village. It was not long until Naruto was completely surrounded by ANBU members preparing to strike him. "STOP! CEASE THIS AT ONCE AND COME WITH ME THE HOKAGE WISHES TO SEE YOU. IF YOU THREATEN ONE MORE PERSON, I WILL BE FORCED TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST YOU!" Yelled the ANBU captain.

Naruto turned to see who dared to tell him what to do. Seeing the captain wearing the cat ANBU mask, and sensing the chakra that this man had, Naruto gave him a smirk. "HAHA EVEN YOU CAN'T STOP ME! THEY ASSAULTED ME FIRST, I AM SIMPLY DEFENDING MYSELF." The barely human man made a move to assault the nearest ANBU member. It was a miracle that the ANBU captain was prepared cause if he acted a split second later, that ANBU member would have been torn in half.

As soon as the demon container made a move, the captain made a hand signal and put all of his effort and force into suppressing the demon. He wasn't sure it was going to work until he saw the blonde stopped just before he tore one of the ANBU members in half. It was as if the blonde was now struggling within himself on whether to continue through with his strike or not.

The rage was dissipating, Naruto's head was becoming clearer. He had lost it. He was trying to get it under control. It had been years since he felt this kind of rage attempting to escape from him. It took all of his efforts to force the demon and his chakra back down and into his cage. Just as he thought he had it under control and the red chakra was beginning to recede, he felt a cold blade pierce his flesh.

The ANBU that would have been killed by the demon container if he had not stopped mid strike, took out his blade and stabbed Naruto through the stomach. With a swift kick to the chest, he sent the, now normal looking, young man back into the center of the crowd.

Naruto got to his knees, blood pouring out of both his stomach and his mouth, still trying to regain control of his own inner turmoil. That's when all the other ANBU in the circle charged in at him with their swords drawn. None of the ANBU seemed to hear their captain yelling at them to stop, or they were all choosing to ignore him this time. Either way, Naruto had about 10 ANBU charging in at him and he had to act quickly.

As he stood up, he tears off his jacket revealing the two short swords that he had strapped to his back. He quickly draws both the swords just as the first ANBU reaches him, and he deflects the attack with his sword. He quickly dodges the sword from the ANBU behind him as he deflects an attack on both his right and left simultaneously.

Tenzo couldn't help but be fascinated watching this man move. He knew that he should be trying to put a stop to this fight, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. The blonde was dodging and deflecting the attacks from ten highly trained shinobi at the same time. The way he moved was so fluid. He didn't think he saw the blonde panic once. In fact, he actually seemed like he was holding back and not trying to strike anybody. He was doing all of this after being stabbed straight through the stomach.

Tenzo had to duck as the blonde finally struck back, having kicked an ANBU soldier right at him. He then used another ANBU as a shield against a punch from another which sent him flying into a nearby shop. The blonde was still dodging and had yet to use one of his swords in any form of striking movement. It was then that the blonde began to try and seemingly get some space. He deflected an attack in front of him and used the momentum of the force to flip out of the circle putting his swords back into their holsters mid-flip and then land behind the group of ANBU.

As all the ANBU collected themselves and charged back in at the blonde, the blonde punched the ground right at his feet. The punch shook the ground in half the village, and a wall popped up between the blonde and the charging ANBU. As the ANBU made their way over and around the wall, they came to find that the blonde had disappeared.

It was then that Tenzo broke out of his reverie and addressed his troops, "Go find him! Do not attack him! If you spot him, report it to me, and maintain your distance. The Hokage wants to see him alive."

"But sir! You saw what he did. You saw what he was going to do to those civilians. He is a demon. We should finish him off and be done with it." said the ANBU member that Naruto nearly slaughtered.

"That is a direct order from not only your captain, but also your Hokage. Now go." With that, all the ANBU went off in different directions. Some with no intentions at all to follow the orders just given to them.

Tenzo stayed behind to clear the street of the giant wall in the middle of it, his thoughts going back to the blonde. He had never seen someone change from a blood hungry (with no way to better describe it) demon, to a young man who didn't want to hurt any of the people who were trying to kill him. All Tenzo knew was that he was going to have to keep an eye on this blonde.

* * *

><p>Just outside the village, standing in a tall tree observing what just transpired where two cloaked individuals. The cloaks they were wearing were black with red clouds going around them. They had large round straw hats covering most of their faces except for theirs mouths.<p>

The taller of the two, who appeared to have sharks teeth in his mouth was the first to speak "It appears that the Nine Tails has finally returned. It was as Pain predicted."

The smaller of the two turned away from the village and was preparing to leave "Your powers of observation are wonderful."

"Yea yea. Shut your pretty mouth before I shut it for you. Lets go tell the rest about the news." The taller of the two said with a devilish grin on his face. With that the two mysterious shinobi disappeared.

* * *

><p>"Stupid fox! Stay the hell out of my life! It is bad enough that I have to carry you around every minute of every day. I have told you before, you are not to interfere in my life!" Naruto yelled standing in front of the cage that housed the demon fox.<p>

"_**THIS WASN'T MY DOING IDIOT! IT WAS YOUR EMOTIONS THAT CAUSED YOU TO SUMMON MY POWER. I COULD CARE LESS ABOUT YOU FIGHTING A BUNCH OF WEAKLINGS. BEGONE FROM MY SIGHT BEFORE I GET REALLY UPSET.**_" The demon fox growled through the bars.

Naruto knew he was right. He knew that ultimately the blame rested on himself. He let his emotions get out of control. It had been years since he last called upon that chakra. He had vowed that he would never use it again, and he almost used it on a little old lady and a group of bigoted old people.

It was then that a voice echoed through the chamber. "Hello? Are you in there?"

Naruto knew someone was outside his body trying to talk to him, but he wanted to scream at the fox some more. "We will finish this discussion another time. Just leave me alone." With that Naruto turned around and began walking out of the chamber.

"_**WHATEVER YOU SAY LITTLE ONE.**_" The fox began and got the most evil face that one could imagine coming from a demon fox "_**BUT YOU KNOW AS WELL AS I DO. YOU TRAIN AND TRAIN AND TRAIN SO THAT YOU ARE STRONG ENOUGH NOT TO USE MY POWER BUT THEIR WILL BE A DAY THAT YOU NEED MY STRENGTH. AT THAT TIME, YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO CONTROL YOURSELF, AND I WILL BE SET LOOSE ON THIS WORLD.**_"

Naruto paused just before he exited. He didn't like what the fox had just said. Not that it upset him, but that it scared him. Not wanting to show this to the fox, Naruto exits the chamber and returns to the outside world.

He opened his eyes to see a young woman looking at him with a mixture of confusion and intrigue. When Naruto had been fleeing from the ANBU, he was drawn to a spot on top of the Fourth Hokage's head. He decided that this place would be as good as any to have his conversation with the fox. He expected to eventually be found by the ANBU who were no doubt searching the city high and low for him. He did not expect to be interrupted from his musings by this young female. The sun had set since Naruto had been up here, and he had to wonder how much time actually spent in his own mind.

"So you are alive. I was beginning to wonder." The girl said with a smile. The girl was wearing a white top with red pants and had a giant scroll strapped to her back. Her brown hair was done up into two buns, and she had a little smile upon her face.

"I was deep in thought until I was interrupted. Is there something that you need or do you just enjoy bothering people?" Naruto did not want to be mean to the girl but he was in no mood to put up with another person trying to attack him due to who he was.

The girls face dropped and the smile got wiped away. "I was just coming up here to think. This is where I spend a lot of my time nowadays. I saw you and wanted to just say hello. I didn't mean to interrupt you. I'm sorry. I will leave you." The girl turned and began walking away.

Naruto couldn't bring himself to just let the girl leave after he was mean to her. As much as Naruto was angry, as much as he wanted to just hurt as many people as he could, it wasn't in him to do it. "Wait!" Naruto stood up and ran towards the girl. "I'm sorry. It's just been a rough day for me. Let's start this over again. I'm Naruto" Naruto said as he held his hand out to her "And you would be?"

The girl takes his hand and shakes it "Tenten."

"Well Tenten, since I so rudely took your thinking spot without asking, would you like to join me? I haven't had very good company today." Naruto asked doing his trademark look and grinning as he put his hand behind his head.

Tenten was still unsure about this man. He was already rude and mean to her but his face now just looked so genuine. There was also something about his name that she couldn't place. In the end, Tenten decided to give in to her intuition and take him up on his offer. Instead of answering him though, she just walked back to the top of Fourth's head and sits in the exact same spot that the boy had just vacated.

Naruto smiled and followed, taking a seat next to her. She turns her head to look at him "So I haven't seen you around this village. Why are you here? I am assuming you're a ninja though considering you have two small swords strapped to your back."

Naruto confused as to how she knew he had the swords on his back due to him having put his jacket back on concealing them from sight. "How did you-"

"I'm a weapons expert. I know what it looks like when clothes make strange folds due to weapons being concealed underneath them."

"Weapons expert, eh? Maybe one day I will have to test my skills against such a self professed expert." Naruto says and sticks his tongue out at her.

"Anytime. If you think those two swords are a match for the arsenal that I have, you will be sorely mistaken." Tenten says with a laugh "You still haven't answered the first question though."

"I suppose I haven't. I am here because the Hokage asked me for a favor. " Naruto stated bluntly.

"What kind of favor?" Tenten's curiosity getting the better of her.

"The kind that I am probably going to end up regretting." Naruto sadly states. "But onto less sad topics. Why do you come up here to think so much? Surely a pretty girl like you has a better place to be than sitting on top of the Hokage monument." Naruto immediately knew that he had made a mistake. Her face lost all hint of anything remotely happy. It almost looked like she was on the brink of tears. "I'm sorry. You don't have to talk about it. I am sorry I brought it up."

The girl looked like she was trying to get her emotions in check and turned to him to respond when a voice rang out behind him. "Uzumaki. The Lord Hokage expects your presence…. NOW."

Naruto turned and saw the ANBU with the cat mask from earlier. "Yea yea. Don't have a heart attack. I'm going now." Naruto turned his attention back to the brunette next to him "Well, Tenten. It appears that our conversation will have to be cut short. It was nice meeting you. I hope that we get to have that spar in the near future." With that he stands up and walks towards the edge of the monument. With one final look back at Tenten, and one big Naruto smile, he jumps off the edge leaving the young kunoichi and the ANBU behind.

"Tenten." The ANBU begins. Tenten stands up and turns around to address the shinobi "Beware of that boy. He could be very dangerous." With that the ANBU disappeared as well. Leaving Tenten alone to her thoughts.

* * *

><p>"HE DID WHAT? IM GOING TO KILL THAT LITTLE IDIOT!" Both the Hokage and Jiraiya had to shield their ears from the busty blonde. The three of them had met up with each other at the end of the day in the Hokage's office in order to discuss plans when Jiraiya and Sarutobi made the mistake of informing Tsunade as to why Naruto's demon chakra spiked earlier that day. "THAT IDIOT BETTER HOPE THAT HE DECIDED TO RUN AWAY, BECAUSE WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON HIM, HE IS GOING TO WISH THOSE ANBU HAD KILLED HIM. ARGHHH" With the final scream, the blonde brought her hand down on the Hokage's desk, breaking it in half.<p>

"Oh really? I would like to see you try… grandma," Said a smirking blonde from his favorite windowsill. Before anyone realized what happened, Naruto was sailing across the village and Tsunade was standing by the windowsill with her fist raised.

"Oh come on now Tsunade. We spent all day trying to track him down, and you just blasted him into oblivion. Well, I suppose we can begin with all the rest of our plans and Naruto can just catch up when he wakes up." Jiraiya says, with a huge grin on his face. He always found it amusing how Tsunade showed her affection through physical abuse, and Naruto just kept coming back for more. Now that Jiraiya thought about it, so did he.

"Yes, lets." Sarutobi says, taking his seat behind his now broken desk. "You said you had information that I didn't have yet? Please tell me this situation couldn't get any worse."

Jiraiya then takes the seat across from Sarutobi, while Tsunade paces around behind them, trying to calm down. "Well…. I have good news. Then I have some average news. Then I have some bad news. Then I have some worse news. Which order would you like them in?" Jiraiya states, reclining in the chair and putting his feet up on the broken desk, a lot like the younger blonde did a week prior.

"Lets start off with the bad news."

"Well, it appears that you will be fighting two armies for this battle. Iwa has signed a treaty with Kumo. You will be attacked from two different directions."

Sarutobi couldn't help but put his head in his hands. How could that possibly not be the worse news? Two out of the five ninja nations were coming to attack the village. "So what does that mean for Kiri?" Sarutobi asked, curious about the fifth and final nation.

"That is the average news." At this point, Tsunade was calm enough and takes the seat next to Jiraiya to listen to the conversation. "Kiri has determined that it would be in their best interests to remain uninvolved. No doubt to see where the power lays after the war, and see if they can take advantage."

"No doubt. So what's the good news?"

"You have one more additional ally force coming to assist you." Sarutobi raised an eyebrow at hearing this.

'No doubt one of the smaller villages hoping to get in our favor.' Sarutobi thought to himself.

At seeing Sarutobi signal for him to continue, Jiraiya finishes "Your new ally will be Mifune, and his army of samurai's from the Land of Iron."

Sarutobi was visibly taken aback from this "But how" His shock growing the more he thought about this. "They hate shinobi's. They refuse to have any dealing with us, no less aid us during war. How could you possibly manage this?"

Jiraiya chuckled "Don't look at me. Mifune hates me. Something about samurai culture thinking that being a pervert is wrong or something. They have never even heard of my books before! Just because I observed one woman who was changing her clothes in a public area, I get a lifetime ban from all of the Land of Iron."

Tsunade scowls and glares at him "You were peeping in on Mifune's wife during her private bath time." Tsunade growls at him.

Jiraiya coughs pretending like Tsunade didn't say anything "Right. Its just a simple misunderstanding that got blown up out of proportion."

Tsunade seemed like she was about to blow up at Jiraiya so Sarutobi quickly stepped in, being used to these type of arguments between the two "So if I don't have you to thank for this new ally, who is?"

Jiraiya, clearly surprised at the fact that the topic was being taken away from himself, absentmindedly states "Oh that? I suppose Naruto is probably the main reason. Him and Mifune seem to be pretty good friends."

Sarutobi was shocked to say the least. How had Naruto befriended a group of people that hate every other ninja in the world? "Hmmm. Interesting. Well, I suppose now is as good a time as any to get the really bad news out of the way."

"Ahh that." Jiraiya sits up, clearly for the first time taking this talk seriously. Tsunade also seemed to be more uneasy and paying attention to the conversation more closely. "How much do you know about the group named Akatsuki?"

"Not much. Just faint whisperings here and there. I believe they attempted to assassinate Gaara a few years ago and the Itachi Uchiha is now associated with them." Sarutobi stated, clearly not understanding how one small group of ninjas was the biggest threat with a coming war.

"There's more to it than that. "Jiraiya continues "Akatsuki consists of 10 missing nins, from all over the world, who each on their own are close to Kage level. They even have some who are beyond the strength of any Kage. It is probably the strongest collection of ninjas ever assembled. They did attack Gaara but their main goal wasn't to kill him. They just wanted what was inside of him."

"The demon?"

"Precisely. Well, ultimately that mission failed due to the… help… of a certain blonde who very well could be bleeding out right now on the other side of the village." Jiraiya states

Tsunade scoffs and mumbles under her breath "He better hope he is seriously injured."

"As I was saying. Akatsuki's one and only goal that we know of is to capture the tailed beasts. We are unsure what their endgame is, but if it involves the beasts, it cant be anything good." Jiraiya finished.

Sarutobi sits for a second thinking about this news. "This is understandably troubling but what does this have to do with the upcoming war. Surely the two armies coming for us is a little more pressing right now."

"Your slipping old man. Think about it. This war is going to be massive. Each army bringing the majority of their forces. That means their strongest men…. And their strongest weapons."

It finally dawned on Sarutobi. "My God. We are bringing them all together for them."

"Exactly. Unfortunately for you, some of Naruto's greatest successes in his life are also bringing pain upon your village. Naruto has made it a personal goal of his to save as many of the containers as he could. He hasn't always been successful, but he has managed to save a few. Including Gaara. From what we can gather their will be four containers on this battlefield. The Eight Tails, named Killer Bee, and the Two Tails, Yugito Nii, will be coming from Kumo. The Four Tails, Roshi, will be coming from Iwa. Then we also have Gaara, who as you know has the One Tail inside of him. This will also be the first time that they will know where he will be."

"Who?"

"Me." Everyone turned to see Naruto back to sitting on the windowsill. He seemed perfectly healthy but his face seemed to be much redder than it was before. He also had a hint of sadness and fear in his eyes. "This will be the first time that they will know where I am." Naruto pauses, clearly not wanting to have this conversation with all of them "I will assemble my team for the rescue mission tomorrow old man. See you then." With that, Naruto stood up and disappeared out the window.

Each elder in the room looked like they wanted to stop him from leaving, but ultimately no one did. They sat in silence for a few minutes and it was finally Sarutobi who broke it "So what your telling me is that not only do I have to worry about two armies attacking us, but also a battlefield littered with demon containers, and a rogue group who are trying to capture them?"

"Pretty much."

"Great. I don't think I could handle anymore bad news right now."

As if on cue, a medic nin hurtles through the window. Out of breath, trying to get out his news as fast as possible, he pants out "My Lord… Lady Tsunade…. Sakura…. Awake…. Stabbed….. Kakashi."

* * *

><p>Authors Notes-<p>

Not going to lie to you. This chapter did not turn out like I was planning it to. I changed ideas during the second paragraph of the chapter, and that snowballed into a completely different chapter than I was expecting and a longer one. I like how it turned out.

I was fully coming into this chapter preparing for this to be a Naruto/Ino fic. I had made that decision. However, as I said, I changed a lot in this chapter and as I was writing it, I got an idea of what I would do to make it Naruto/Tenten. I will have to have it finalized in the next chapter cause the following chapters after that will change depending on which way I choose.

Chapter 3 might take a little longer to write now than it would have, after changing so much in this chapter. It should be about a week between updates from now on. Thanks again for reading.


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